Consequences – A Bad Apple Comedy of Justice
by Stainless Steel Fox
Summary: An one shot AU fic for 'One Bad Apple'. Babs Seed did far worse things to the CMC than Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon ever did. However, she gets away pretty much scot free. But what if some-pony had seen what was happening and decided to take matters into her own hooves? Was complete, but another idea hit me, and had to be explored. Chapters 3 & 4 are a separate continuity.
1. Consequences - Babs

Applejack was working in the vegetable patch next to the farmhouse when she heard excited voices. She nodded with approval as she saw the four fillies crossing the yard to the barn where the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been building their float for the Summer Harvest Parade. She'd known this would be a good idea. Being around a group of fillies who didn't let their lack of a cutie mark dampen their spirits would do poor Babs the world of good.

She was proud as apple sauce that Apple Bloom had trotted up to the plate like that, and her two friends with her. They'd gone out of their way to make Babs feel accepted right from the moment they met her, which was exactly what the Manehattan filly needed. Having friends to support you could get you through the hard times, and from her letters, Babs had been having a very hard time being bullied about her own blank flank.

Maybe she should bring out a tray of apple juice for the four of the little darlings... She saw some unexpected visitors to the farm. What were those two fillies doing here? Diamond Tiara was not on her list of favourite people, especially after it had become clear that she'd been the ultimate cause of the Gabby Gums fiasco. For that matter she knew about the pair's attitude but had felt it best to let Apple Bloom and the others handle that themselves unless they asked for help.

Still, she had a load of vegetables to carry across to the storage shed, so she could pass by and check on them. Babs must be feeling pretty fragile, and those two getting on her saddle was exactly what she didn't need, even if she had Apple Bloom and the others to protect her. As she walked up to the entrance to the barn, she heard raised voices from inside.

"More like Cutie-mark cry-babies!" That Manehattan accent, that snicker, that surely couldn't be Babs?

"Hey!" She heard her little sister's voice reply.

She heard the whole disgraceful episode unfold. Diamond Tiara egging Babs on, and the Manehattan filly not only going along with it, but going off on her own. She was about to step around into the doorway when there was a crash, and the float came barrelling out to wreck itself at the bottom of the hill.

Apple Bloom's voice rang out clear. "When I tell Applejack..."

"You're going to tell Applejack what?" Applejack could imagine the new pony stepping up and getting in Apple Bloom's face.

"W-well, y'know, uh..."

"What're you, a snitch?"

Then Diamond Tiara's grating whine exclaimed, "Come on, Babs, you should hang with us! Y'know, the cool ponies, not these babies!"

Applejack was already stepping around to stand silhouetted in the doorway, glaring at the three 'cool ponies' who suddenly got quite a lot colder as her shadow covered them. "They don't need to tell me anything! I heard quite enough myself."

Diamond Tiara started to edge around the farm-pony but was stopped by a glare. "You and your side-kick can stay right there! I'll get to you soon enough, but I got some things to say to my cousin first!"

Babs' cool confident front had vanished like a passing cloud, and she was practically cowering.

"I've never been ashamed to call one of my own kin family until just now! You should know better than any-pony what being bullied is like! We took you in when you were hurtin', gave you a place to stay, my little sister and her friends went out of their way to make you feel at home, and this is how you repay them? The first chance you get, you turn on them!"

"Bu... B-but I..." Babs started to tear up.

"When you said you'd been bullied in Manehattan about not having a cutie-mark, I figured you'd feel at home here. Land sakes, I figured knowing that there are other ponies who don't have a cutie mark and don't let it get them down would be good for you. Now I'm wondering if that sob story was just a front, and the reason you needed to get out of Manehattan was because _you_ were the bully, and ponies had gotten wise to ya!"

"She was bullied?" Apple Bloom asked.

"She said she was!" Applejack replied. "But that don't fit the way she just acted."

"But I was bullied!" wailed Babs. "I was scared of being bullied when those two appeared, and I... I..."

"Joined up with them and bucked dirt in the faces of every-pony who'd tried to help ya. If there's two things I can't stand, they're dishonesty and disloyalty," Applejack finished disgustedly. "Two wrongs don't make a right, and being bullied don't give you leave to be a bully yourself. I know these two and the way they act. The reason they pal around with each other is that no decent pony'll have anything to do with them, unless Tiara is throwin' her daddy's money around to buy some popularity."

"Hey!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed, stung by Applejack's contempt.

"Every-pony knows it, but I ain't your local parenty. Teaching you proper manners is your daddy's job!"

Apple Bloom asked, "If you know they're teasing us, why haven't you said something before now?"

That got the farm-pony to smile for the first time. "Because up till now you've been handling them pretty well by yourself. Heck, if I'd stepped in when you were panicking about that party, you'd probably never have formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders in the first place. I'm proud of how you deal with things yourself, and I wasn't going to take that away from you. But just so you know, telling some-pony if you do need help isn't being a snitch."

Apple Bloom beamed with pride, and the other two gave her one hoofed hugs.

Applejack had turned her attention back to Babs Seed, and her tone was a lot less friendly.

"However, even those two stuck-up fillies have never done anything worse than pass a few nasty remarks. They never damaged any-ponies property, maybe because they knew it'd come back to haunt 'em.

"But you just went and wrecked a float that was the result of a lot of hard work by Apple Bloom and the others, and you did it purely because it was the worst thing you could do to hurt them. Worse still some-pony coulda got hurt! I nearly got hit myself! Celestia knows the Cutie Mark Crusaders have enough disasters themselves, but they're accidents, not some-pony out to wreck things."

"I never meant to wreck it! I just wanted to dent it a bit..."

"Y'all can tell it to your folks back in Manehattan. I'm sending you back there first train tomorrow, and the only reason I ain't doing it tonight is 'cause I need to send your parents a pegasus mail to let 'em know to come pick you up first. I'm going to add a few choice comments about exactly how you acted around here too."

She pointed a hoof at the door. "I suggest you go pack up your things. I was gonna let you sleep with Apple Bloom, but I don't think that's gonna work out. I'll fix up the attic, you can sleep up there for tonight."

Babs slunk off dejectedly in the direction of the house, muzzle almost touching the ground, and Diamond Tiara tried to edge away again. Applejack turned to face her.

"And as for you missy, you ain't getting away with this neither!"

"But I didn't wreck that stupid cart!" the pink pony whined. "It isn't fair!"

"You and that bookend of yours didn't try to stop her, in fact you seemed pretty darned pleased about it. What has my little sis ever done to you anyhow? Huh, if it wasn't cutie marks and my sis, it'd be some-pony else and something else, because the only way you can feel big is if you make some-pony else feel small. Apple Bloom has more moxie, more guts and more gumption in one hoof than you've got in your entire body!"

"You can't talk to me like that! When I tell my father..."

"Oh, I intend to have a long talk with old Filthy myself, and your momma too." Applejack interrupted. "He's a decent enough pony and I don't think he'll be best pleased with the way you're dragging his good name through the mud with yer shenanigans "

"But..." Diamond Tiara's eyes widened. The prissy filly knew she was in trouble. But bluster had always worked before. "He'll never believe you over me, I'm his daughter! My daddy's rich, and has powerful friends! You don't want to upset him!"

Of course, this worked wonders with Applejack. "The Apple family may not have a pile of bits in the bank, but we've got a lot of friends ourselves, including a bunch up in Canterlot. So don't think you can scare me with the hooey you're spouting! Not that it'll come to that, the Apples and the Riches have been friends for generations. I figure he'll listen when I talk!"

Out of options, Diamond Tiara looked past Applejack and fixed Apple Bloom with a basilisk glare. However it was wasted on the farm filly, as she was in a huddle with her two comrades discussing something, and didn't even notice. Applejack did.

"Don't think you can take it out on my little sis neither! One more word, one more comment about blank flanks or anything else and you'll wish you were back in only this much trouble. Your dad ain't the only one who wants a piece of our next zap apple harvest! For now, I figure it's enough that you can't get in here to bother my little sis or her friends. This is Apple family land, and you ain't welcome no more, so skedaddle. And don't come back now, y hear?"

"Fine!" Diamond Tiara stamped her hoof. "I never wanted to come to this smelly old barnyard anyway!"

Silver Spoon was slightly brighter, not that that was hard, and asked, "But what about the Grand Apple Picnic, or the Harvest feast, or the Nightmare Night Apple-bobbing?"

"Like I said, you ain't welcome!" The Apple family hosted a lot of the bigger events in Ponyville, in whole or in part, so that was a pretty serious punishment. Applejack stood aside and pointed at the gates. Diamond Tiara, finally realising that she'd met a tougher pony than she was, stomped off in a snit. Silver Spoon followed in her wake, a lot more subdued and casting gloomy glances back at the guardian earth-pony.

It wasn't until the pair were out of the gate that Applejack turned back to the trio, who were now watching her with awed expressions.

"Wow! That was totally awesome, amazing and...!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

Scootaloo finished. "... way past cool!"

"I didn't enjoy doing it, but acting nice to those two would have taught 'em nothing. They need learnin' that actions have consequences. In this case, that if you buck the Apple family tree, you get a whole bunch of Apple's dropping on you!"

"You'd really do that, stop selling Filthy Rich zap apple jam? For me?"Apple Bloom asked uncertainly. She knew enough about the Apple farm's business, to know that changing something like that would be a lot of trouble and quite possibly cost the Apple family quite a bit of money.

"In a Manehattan minute!" Applejack replied, ruffling her hair. "There are other distributors, but I only have one sister, and I aim to protect her. And that goes for her friends too."

After a second, Apple Bloom said, "About Manehattan, I mean sending Babs back there. We've been talking, and we wanted to ask a favour..."

Babs Seed was up in Apple Bloom's room, slumped down on the bed with her head in her hoofs and sobbing softly. How could things have gone so wrong so fast? This had been her life-line, her big chance to escape what was happening in Manehattan, and she'd blown it about as badly as possible!

When the bullies in Manehattan had started on her, her parents had told her to just ignore it. She'd tried, really she had, but that had just made them bolder, scaring away any-pony who might want to be friends with her. Even the fillies who weren't part of the gang stayed away to avoid drawing the bullies attention, and she couldn't really blame them.

She felt a completely irrational burst of anger through her misery. Why did her cousin have to be so eager, so nice with so little reason! She'd been lonely for long enough, that a group of ponies wanting to be friends had scared her, not that she hadn't been nervous already with meeting her famous cousin Applejack.

The whole time they'd been hauling her around, showing stuff off, telling her they wanted her in their club, she had been waiting for the other horse-shoe to drop, for them to turn on her, and restore the universe to normal. The idea that the offer was genuine never really occurred to her. Then those two stuck-up witches had turned up, and she was right back in her worst nightmares. She'd panicked and done something monumentally stupid.

Another bigger burst of hurt and anger was directed at the fancy-pants fillies. They'd come at the worst time, and their approval at her insulting the other three was reassuring. Things were back to normal, ponies were bullying other ponies and no-pony was doing anything about it, only this time she was on the winning side. Then it had gotten out of hoof. She'd been desperate for more approval, but she really hadn't meant to wreck the float, just damage it a bit. Just enough to seal the deal with her new 'friends'.

That had her growling at the Cutie-mark Crusaders again. Why couldn't they build a better float, or at least a less fragile one! With that, she figured she'd pretty much burned her bridges behind her, so it seemed easier to keep rolling with it, and it wasn't like she didn't know exactly how bullies operated. Then her roll had come up against a rock called Applejack.

She wanted to lash out at all of them, but Applejack's devastating analysis of her actions left her no comfortable place to divert the blame. She'd thrown away what was freely offered, hurt people who wanted to care about her out of fear, just to get in with a pair of ponies she would never have wanted to be friends with in a million years.

Her focus turned back to the real author of this mess, herself. If she'd only had a little more courage... no, in the clinch, she'd discovered she was a coward, and the self-loathing burned like acid in her soul. Her parents had never really believed how bad her situation was, and after Applejack wrote that letter, they never would, and neither would any other member of the Apple clan.

She was going back to Manehattan, back to the humiliation and pain, and this time there'd be no escape. The worst part of it was, she was starting to think she didn't deserve any better. She considered running away, maybe into the Everfree forest. She might be a Manehattan girl, and know less about wilderness survival than a pet poodle, but being torn limb from limb by rabid timber wolves would still be less painful than what she felt right now.

There was a knock on the door, and her younger cousin's voice came through it. "Babs? Can I come in?"

The Manehattan filly felt another spike of anger at how gentle her voice was, and that anger made her respond, "Come to gloat? Now you've got what you wanted?"

Even as she said it, the heat of her anger turned cold. 'Way to go Babs, if there's a way to make things worse, you'll find it!' she berated herself.

"I just wanted to talk, and I never wanted you to get sent away like that, but if you don't want to..."

"NO! Please, I mean I'm sorry, I'm so sorry and I've been so stupid and it's all gone wrong!" Babs called out in a panic. "I didn't mean to wreck the float, and I shouldn't have sided with those two mean brats, but I... oh, what's the use! There's no way to fix it, fix anything... "

The door opened and Apple Bloom trotted in and came over to the bed. She reached out a hoof and Babs flinched away closing her eyes, but all that happened was the feeling of a fore-leg wrapping around her in a hug.

"It's okay, I know what it's like to feel all alone, to be scared like that. I might have ended up as bad as that if it hadn't been for Scoots and Sweetie Belle. I guess we came on a bit too string, huh?"

Babs just hunched tighter in on herself, turning away, feeling even worse at the warmth in her cousin's voice. "How can you be so nice to me after what I did! Applejack was right, I'm not fit to be around here! Maybe I am just a rotten apple!"

"Applejack once told me what Fluttershy, she's a pegasus friend of hers, said when she was telling off a dragon who'd been snorting out smoke across Equestria and blocking out the sun. 'You ain't a bad dragon, you just made a bad mistake.' I figure if she can tell that to a dragon, I can say that to you, excepting that you ain't a dragon."

"A dragon? Really?" That was a bizarre enough story that it cut through some layers of the shell Babs was building up around herself. A lot of weird stories came out of Ponyville, what with one thing and another, but this one took a lot of believing.

"Sure as sugar!" Apple Bloom replied. "Ask my big sis, heck, ask any-pony. Anyhow, what I really wanted to talk to you about is a second chance."

Babs' heart leapt at the words, then immediately fumbled it's vault and came crashing back down. "What can I possibly do? Applejack wouldn't believe I was sorry if I got a statement endorsed by the Princesses, Celestia and Luna both!"

"My sister can be stubborn as a mule, though come to think of it, the one mule we have around here is about as easy-going a fella as you could wish. However, we convinced her to hold off on that letter and stuff, if you were willing to do something for us."

That made Babs scared again. They were going to put her through the wringer somehow to pay for her crimes... but a part of her actually looked forward to it. However humiliating or unpleasant her penance was, it'd still feel better than what she felt now. Somehow, she knew that whatever dreadful thing she had to do, the offer itself was genuine. Apple Bloom had never lied to her, or tried to trick her, whatever her own fears had told her.

"What do I have to do?" she asked, nervously.

She heard Apple Bloom chuckle, a sound devoid of the edge Babs' own had taken on when she was insulting them. "Don't sound so scared. It's just we're still down a carnival float, and the carnival is tomorrow. That means an all-nighter for the three of us, and we figured a fourth set of hooves would come in handy. We reckon the best way for you to make up for wrecking the first one was to help build the replacement."

"That's all?" Babs was stunned, and her voice showed it. "After how I acted?"

Apple Bloom's voice was surprised as hers. "What did you think we were going to do? Ask you to walk through the Everfree blindfolded? Spend the night in the pig-pen? Like I said, I understand what it is to be scared, and lonely and do crazy things because of it,and so do the others. I think my big sister has forgotten that, though truth be told, she was late getting her own cutie-mark. I figure this is kind of neat, the punishment fitting the crime, as Sweetie Belle said. I also figure we'll find out what kind of pony you are at the same time."

Babs couldn't quite believe she could get off this easily, but she wasn't going to let it slip through her hooves. She turned back to face her cousin, hope in her eyes for the first time. "I'll do it! I'll build you your pumpkin!"

"No, you won't." Babs heart crashed, so it was just a trick after all. But before she could say anything, Apple Bloom continued. "We decided a coach made out of a pumpkin was too filly-tale. We'll be building a golden apple, and so will you."

Babs smiled properly for the first time since she'd arrived, "I'll do my very best!"

"Glad to have you on-board cuz!" Apple Bloom gave her cousin a proper hug, and this time, Babs hugged her back. It felt wonderful. In fact, she felt a lot better than she had in a long time.

The long night of building (with appropriate background music) was over and the four fillies stood back and looked at what they had wrought. The golden apple float looked fantastic. Babs had been better than her word, working twice as hard as any of the others. The early evening start combined with her extra efforts meant the whole thing had been completed by mid-night, with enough time to catch most of a full night's sleep.

"Is this it?" Sweetie Belle yawned.

Scootaloo was sagging slightly. "I think... we're good to go!"

"Oh pony! Maybe I should have taken up that blindfold walk across the Everfree instead!" Babs puffed, blowing her fringe up. "I ache in places I didn't even know I had!"

"Well, we couldn't have done it without you, well, not as fast and not as well. Those were some neat ideas you came up with!" Apple Bloom was as tired as the others, but she was still watching out for her cousin. "I'm going to make sure Applejack knows just how hard you worked, and just how much you went through back in Manehattan. None of us had it half so bad!"

"Ohhh!" Sweetie Belle growled. "Those meanies make Dumb Tiara and Silly Spoon sound like cream-puffs! If I ever get my hooves on them...!"

"Yeah!" Scootaloo added, "If they give you any more trouble when you go back, let us know and we'll come give you a helping hoof dealing with them."

Babs might be tired, but the warmth of their enthusiastic support still made her feel good. "Thanks guys... Thanks for everything!"

"It's the least we could do for a fellow Crusader..." Apple Bloom realised what she'd said and looked around. "Guys, I think Babs has worked her passage, don't you?"

"Worked her tail off more like!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"All in favour of making her a member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, say Apple!"

The vote was unanimous. Sweetie Belle spoke for them. "Then we, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, elect Babs Seed to join us as a sister, friend, confi-day-nte, alley, boss-om buddy, gal pal, compader... what was the rest of it, Scootaloo? Oh, who cares, we can do the official stuff later! The short short version is, you're in!"

"Well I'm all in for one!" Apple Bloom yawned again, causing something of an epidemic. "We gotta be our best tomorrow, so we'd better get some shut-eye."

She held up her hoof. "Cutie mark Crusaders..."

The other two slapped their hooves against hers, and then Apple Bloom looked over at Babs. Her eyes widened and all three fillies nodded in response to the unasked question in them. She stepped over and put her own hoof against theirs. "Cutie Mark Crusaders... HO!"

**Authors Note:** Yes I should be getting on with my many main projects, but I saw the episode and felt compelled to write this. While I'm okay with the overall moral of the story, don't become the things you fight, I still feel Babs Seed was something of a Karma Houdini, getting away with some worse things than Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon have ever done, with no comeback.

So I decided to write the story so that she had to work for her redemption, rather than just being handed it on a plate, and have to go through some soul searching first. The result is a lot darker in tome than most of my fics, but hopefully it works. I also wrote an extra bit which is basically bashing Diamond Tiara, but I'll post that separately, if at all.


	2. Conseqences - Diamond Tiara

**Authors Note:** Omake, not necessarily a continuation. Do not read if you actually like Diamond Tiara.

Diamond Tiara glared furiously at the floats as they passed. The happy polka music, the smiling ponies, how dare they all be happy when she was suffering! Applejack had come to see her father, and despite her efforts to explain that it wasn't her fault and everyone else was against her, he'd ended up giving her the worst talking to of her life, and he'd even... sent her to bed without dessert!

It was all that Babs Seed's fault anyway! She'd wrecked the float and gotten Diamond Tiara in trouble. The pink filly took a little pleasure in the fact that Babs was going to be punished even worse than she had been. As for Silver Spoon, she hadn't been seen since they left the Apple farm... There she was! At least there was one pony who'd see things the right way.

The grey pony came over to her rather hesitantly, but Diamond Tiara ignored that. "I'm glad you're here! Can you believe all this fuss and bother over a few farmers? It's disgusting! Well, at least those Cutie mark cry-babies won't be joining in! Bump bump, sugar lump..."

Silver Spoon looked shocked at just how much venom there was in that last sentence, and didn't join in with their signature greeting. "Uh... actually I can't stay... My parents decided you're a bad influence on me, and they've forbidden me to see you in future. They're talking to Miss Cherrilee to get us different seats in class, and I'm not to come over to your place, and vice versa."

For a moment Diamond Tiara couldn't believe it, then she started a furious tirade. "You can't possibly be going along with this! It's that rotten farm-pony Applejack! She's doing all this because her precious little sister had her feeling hurt! She can't tell us how to run our lives! Ohhh! If Apple Bloom thought I was being mean to her before, she'll realise she didn't even know what the word meant when I'm through with her!"

She realised that Silver Spoon was backing away, looking scared. "What? Surely you're not going to just give in? We're best filly friends forever, remember!"

The grey pony visibly stopped herself, and replied. "Actually, I am, and not just because of my parents. I never realised it before, but Applejack was right. We became friends because we both liked the same things, fancy clothes and jewellery and magazines, and because your dad loaned mine the money to build up his sugar refinery.

"When we started teasing Apple Bloom, I thought we were just showing that just because we were proper girls, unlike her, that didn't mean we weren't tough. But you, you really do enjoy hurting other ponies just to see them hurt! I had a long talk with my parents about who I wanted to be, and I realised that that wasn't it. In fact, I'm going to work hard not to be like that any more."

Diamond Tiara was shocked at this new betrayal, and reacted in the only way she knew how. "Fine! Who needs you! I can find some better friends anyway! I don't ever want to see you again either, you pathetic doormat!"

Normally a show of temper like that would have had Silver Spoon frantically apologising, but she seemed strangely unmoved. "You know, I figured this would be harder, considering how close we've been, but I realise now we never were. I wasn't your friend, just a sounding board and yes-pony. You were the one who decided everything and I just went along with it.

"Well not any more! The more I listen to you, the more I realise this was the best thing that could have happened to me! I may not have the qualifications for Apple Bloom's club..." she looked down at her cutie-mark, "... but maybe if I work hard enough at it, they might accept me as a friend. From what I've seen, at least they mean it. Have a nice life."

With that she turned on her hooves and walked away, ignoring Diamond Tiara's increasingly shrill commands and pleading.

Diamond Tiara thought she couldn't get any madder, and then she saw a golden apple float, or rather, who was in the cabin. Babs Seed was right there with the three other Blank Flanks, laughing and having what looked to be a good time. She grabbed a carrot crepe loaded with strawberry sauce off a passing vendors tray, ignoring the exclamation of anger from the sales-pony, and flung it like a Frisbee with all her might at the offending blank flank.

Apple Bloom spotted her just as she launched it. "Uh oh! Incoming!"

"Deploy point defence system!" called out Scootaloo.

Roger!" Babs replied, and pulled a lever. A hatch popped open in the front of the float, and a worn out tennis racket on a mechanical arm unfolded to pop up in front of the wide front window. It had been restrung with strong elastic bands, and Babs moved the lever like a joystick to manoeuvre the racket to intercept the pancake projectile.

The crepe hit and rebounded right back at the pink pony who'd thrown it. She wasn't able to duck in time and with a particularly gooey splat, she ended up wearing it as a face mask. It slid down her muzzle leaving her covered in puréed strawberry.

"Nice shooting Babs!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "That was a cool idea!"

Apple Bloom asked. "How'd you get so good at that anyhow?"

"Playin' the crane games at the fun fair at Pony Island." Babs explained.

Sweetie Belle pulled down a periscope and focussed on the peeved pink pony princess they'd just passed. "Well it worked! Oh my, is her face ever red!"

Their merry laughter reached the ears of the pony in question, along with the question from the vendor. "So, are you going to pay for that?"

The only response his question got was a small growl of inchoate fury.


	3. Discord takes a hand… hoof… claw… Part 1

Discord takes a hand… hoof… claw… whatever! – Part 1

Babs Seed was in darkness, formless and empty. She moved over the face of the darkness, or at least she thought she did, because without reference points it was rather hard to tell. All in all she was feeling rather confused. In the distance she finally saw something, a platform floating in space, containing a comfy couch, a low table full of snacks, and some sort of big flat panel arrangement that reminded her of a cinema screen.

She suddenly found herself standing on the edge of the platform, and a voice, a stallion's by the sound of it, spoke. "Sit down, sit down! We have a lot of time and not much to do. No, wait, reverse that. Anyway just sit."

Somewhat gingerly she sat in the middle of the sofa, which was very comfortable. "Where… where am I? Who are you? What's going on?"

The voice sighed. "It would have been nice if your questions had been at least slightly original. I despise the ordinary. However, in order, you're dreaming, someone who wants to talk to you, and more things than your little pony mind could comprehend. However, in terms directly relevant to you, Miss Barbara Seed Cortland, this is an intervention of sorts."

"Intervention? I don't understand." At least Babs could feel relieved that she was dreaming. Things didn't have to make sense when you were dreaming.

"No, very few ponies do. To be more specific, it concerns your trip to Ponyville tomorrow to stay with your cousins."

"You… know about that?" The chance to get away from the bullies who'd been teasing her and worse about her cutie-mark had been a Princess-sent opportunity.

"My dear Miss Babs, I know everything. Well, almost everything, which is why I'm here. I intend to mix things up, see what happens, upset a few apple carts, or possibly not upset a pumpkin cart. We won't know until we try, and there's the fun of it!"

"Who are you?" Babs asked again.

The screen in front of her lit up like a cinema screen, though she couldn't see a projector anywhere. On it was a mishmash creature, a dragon with a snaky body and mismatched limbs.

"My name is Discord! It's short for Discord, maybe you've heard of me?"

Babs didn't know how she'd gotten there, but now she was hiding behind the sofa. She peeked over the edge. "But you can't be here! The Elements of Harmony defeated you and turned you to stone!"

The figure on the screen had gone, but a voice behind her right ear said, "Indeed they did, but not forever."

She jumped twice her own height and landed back on the sofa, on her back. Discord was looking over the seat back at her, chuckling.

"You need not fear, I've turned over a new tree. I now use my vast powers for good… mostly." The last word was sotto voce.

"Now that the first shock had worn off, her curiosity kicked in. "Don't you mean a new leaf?"

"Why turn over the leaf when you can turn over the entire tree? Besides, turning over the leaf without the tree will twist it off. I'm very fond of trees, one tree in particular."

The couch turned into a psychiatrist's couch, with her lying back on it, and Discord beside her with spectacles and a notepad.

"So tell me, when did you start feeling a morbid hatred of trees?"

"I didn't… I mean… that's not… " Babs huffed. "I never said anything about wanting to hurt trees! I just wanted…"

"Hold, villain!" A new figure appeared; a navy blue alicorn in the regalia of a princess. "Cease thy torment of that poor filly… with a counselling session?"

Princess Luna had come in using her full Canterlot Voice, but it rather stuttered to a halt as she saw what was going on. A pulse of magic shot from her horn, and enveloped them all, and she recoiled in shock.

"You are no mere unquiet shade, no simple nightmare! Discord, how have you escaped your bondage?" Her horn started to glow. "Thou have made a grave mistake, in the living world your powers may overshadow mine, but here, I am the final arbiter of reality!"

Discord vanished with a white flash and reappeared, half wrapped under her with his head by hers. He placed a cork on the alicorn's horn and chided her, "Luna, Luna, Luna, I wondered when you'd show up. You're the one pony who's less able to take a joke than Celly. I suppose that's why you're so much fun to tease."

Flashing away again, he reappeared between them and the screen, wearing a set of royal regalia made of purple metal and modified for a draconequus, with bracers replacing horse-shoes and a screw and ball symbol emblazed on the brassard. He looked down at it and made a face. "How do you wear this thing all the time?"

He flashed again, and the regalia was replaced by a Wonderbolts uniform with a golden wing commander insignia. "Much better."

Luna popped her cork, which flew off into the darkness. "What are you doing here?!"

"Nothing Equestria shaking, just a minor experiment of sorts. In the future your sister, the princess, decided I could be redeemed, and got the Elements to free me. Surprisingly enough, she was right. I am a new draconequus, committed to doing good, or at least funny. All I intend to do is show little Miss Babs over there a vision of her immediate future, and see what happens when she wakes up."

"A minor experiment?" Luna looked aghast. "You might change the whole future of Equestria!"

"Actually, the space-time continuum is rather more robust than that. I should know, I tried to stop my original petrifaction the same way, but nothing I could do would alter those events. That was before my current reformation, of course. It's like that delightful time-travel spell that Twilight used to try and warn herself not to worry about someone coming back in time to warn her against something."

He grinned, delighted at the humour of the situation. "If an action were capable of affecting anything more than the most superficial changes, it wouldn't work, even with my powers. All this will do is change the immediate future of a handful of ponies. The greater scheme of Equestrian history will continue on without a bobble, except that a few ponies may be happier for it. I even have your sister's official seal of approval."

He brought out a scroll with a seal on it made of golden wax in the shape of Celestia's cutie-mark.

Luna frowned, opening the scroll. "How do I know that this document is authentic?"

"As you say, you are the ultimate arbiter of reality here. Use your power to determine its authenticity."

Luna touched her horn to the seal and it glowed with refulgent rays of golden light. "You speak the truth. I suppose there is a first time for anything."

Discord put an expression of wide eyed astonishment. "I'm shocked, shocked that you would think such a thing! I have never lied. Misled, confused, even misrepresented, but I have never lied. I've never needed to; the wonderful contradictions in even the most ordered pony mind give me everything I need to further my plans."

"Uh…" Babs had sat still and quiet as the two immensely powerful beings argued over her fate, but as Luna seemed to be coming around to Discord's point of view, she felt she had to say something. "Don't I get a say in this? It is my life."

Discord turned to face her, rising to his full height, drawing the full aura of his power around him. "A matter discussed by Princesses and Powers of Chaos, and you want to know whether the wishes of one little filly will make a difference?"

The last was almost a voice of thunder, and Babs quailed, nearly jumped behind the sofa again, but she screwed up all her courage and said, "yes?"

"That's the right answer!" Discord was suddenly in a double breasted suit jacket and shirt, beaming at her. "Tell our contestant what she's won, Luna!"

"An all expenses paid chance to decide her own destiny!" Luna was suddenly wearing a sparkly outfit and was all smiles.

Then she looked down at herself, poofed the outfit back into her regalia, and shot a death glare at Discord, who was suddenly examining the infinite black nothingness that passed for a ceiling with great intensity and whistling discordantly. Of course, being Discord, the whistles kept changing into random sounds such as an elephant's trumpet, the sound of a jackhammer, and a duck call.

He looked back down at Babs and continued, "What kind of spirit of mischief and chaos would I be if I set only one possible path, if I imposed a rigid order on things? So, Babs Seed, you have a choice. Decide not to take part, and you will wake up with only this lovely parting gift."

A fancifully decorated hair comb appeared, floating in the air beside him.

"Or you can choose to see your own destiny, and possibly alter it for the better, or the worse. So do you play it safe or take a chance?"

A yellow box with a big red question mark appeared, floating in the air beside the comb.

Now she had the choice, Babs wasn't sure what to do with it. She glanced over to Luna, who shook her head slightly. "It is not my place to interfere in this, or even offer advice. All I can say for sure is that this offer is genuine. However, this is your choice to make, young filly."

After another moment of indecision, she reached out, and pointed at the box. "I choose to see my future!"

The box unfolded, and a peculiar object floated over from it to her hoof. It was a small, black device made of Bakelite or something similar, and it had raised buttons with odd symbols on. Discord plopped down beside her on the sofa, scooped up a handful of popcorn and said, "Press the button with a right facing triangle, yes, that one."

With some trepidation, she complied. The button was small, too small for a pony to use easily, but she managed to do so with the edge of her hoof. The screen lit up once more, and music started playing. Two earth-ponies appeared on the screen, inside a bedroom. One, a blank flank filly with red hair, was rooting through a dresser.

'What to wear, what to wear? Oh, what to wear?!'

The other pony, older and with a triple apple cutie-mark replied, 'Scoot your boot, Apple Bloom. it's not like it's the Harvest Day Parade! We're just goin' to the train station!'

If that was her cousin Apple Bloom, which meant the older pony must be Applejack. As the scene unfolded, it became clear they were about to come and meet her at the train station, and when Apple Bloom found out Babs didn't have her cutie-mark, it was very important for some reason, and she needed to tell her friends.

For a second Babs wondered if this was the start of more bullying, but she didn't have a cutie-mark herself, so surely that couldn't be it, could it. A title music sequence began, like the start of a movie, but showing six ponies she didn't recognise, apart from her cousin, singing about friendship and ending with a small dragon somehow burning up a letter containing a photo which went to Princess Celestia. The title card for this movie was apparently 'My Little Pony – Friendship is Magic'.

"What manner of clairvoyance spell is this?" Luna asked, equally puzzled.

Discord reached down and pressed another button, with two vertical lines on it, and the images froze. "It's not a spell, it's a television program."

"Is that something like a movie?" Babs asked.

"Yes, after a fashion. Think of it as a film delivered to your own personal screen, and controlled by you. In a dimension inhabited by humans, this is a very popular form of entertainment."

"I thought humans were just myths!" Luna exclaimed.

"They are around here, but there are humans in other dimensions. Even without my assistance they're so wonderfully chaotic that I found it very easy to observe them." Discord smirked. "What, you thought I spent the time I was encased in stone looking out at the Royal Gardens? I may have been immobilised, but I could still send my awareness out to observe, even if I couldn't affect anything."

He gave a frown, and nibbled on a soft drink. "Unfortunately, I didn't find that particular dimension until after I was stoned for a second time. The problem with infinity is that there's a lot of it, and I can't be everywhere at once. Well, I suppose I could, but it would get so _messy_."

"So this is some show about our world?" Babs asked, "About me? How do they know?"

"I never asked." Discord shrugged. "The stories focus on Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's favourite student, and the other Elements of Harmony, those other ponies in the title. It starts with the return of Nightmare Moon, and ends… well, that you'll have to wait and see! Your elder cousin is one of the Elements, and quite a few stories focus on your younger cousin and her friends and their quest for cutie-marks… But maybe it's easier to just watch."

He pressed the arrow button again, and the program restarted.

Her cousin and her friends were overenthusiastic, and it did cushion the shock when she saw herself. After being pretty much ostracised by the bullies who'd also made sure no-pony else in her class wanted anything to do with her, she could just imagine herself reacting the way she was portrayed on screen. She wasn't used to ponies her own age wanting her to be around, much less wanting to impress her.

She upped the rating from over-enthusiastic to nuts as the story went on, but at one remove, it wasn't as cringe worthy as it was for her screen double. In fact it was pretty funny, and having seen how they'd acted when she wasn't around, it was no doubt that they genuinely wanted to be her friends. Why should she possibly want to change this? They were practically offering her the keys to the kingdom, or their float at least.

Then it all started to go wrong. It seemed that there were bullies in Ponyville too, and depressingly unoriginal ones at that. From the instant she saw them, the pair put her back up, and when they started to rag her cousin and her friends about the float, Babs started to bristle. Okay, this would be where she'd tell the pair of them where to go… No! That couldn't be happening!

Her on-screen self was siding with the bullies? Turning and insulting Apple Bloom and her friends? She felt sick, and dizzy as she saw herself playing up to the bullies, but when her counterpart wrecked the float it was too much.

"NO! I wouldn't! I couldn't!" Babs rounded on the draconequus. "This is one of your mean tricks isn't it? I've been bullied myself, that's why I'm going away to my cousin's in the first place! I'd never side with bullies against ponies who were trying to be my friends! Never!"

Discord just raised one eyebrow, and she recoiled back with an 'eep!' as she realised she was basically calling out a being who could give even the Princesses pause. He pressed the pausing button on the control box and replied. "My, such fire! However, for once I am completely innocent."

A halo appeared over his head, and he plucked it from there and dipped it in an outsize mug of chocolate milk and took a bite out of it.

"Those are the events as they happen. You will turn your back on the Cutie-mark Crusaders and join up with their tormentors. Indeed, the episode is called 'One Bad Apple'."

With tears in her eyes, Babs turned to Princess Luna, pleading with her. "You believe me, don't you? That was one of the worst things I've ever seen any-pony do, and I'm not a bad pony."

"Maybe not, but you might make a bad decision. If any-pony knows how fear or anger can make you do things you normally never would, it would be I. I saw how uncomfortable you were at your reception. If you had not yet formed a bond of friendship with the Crusaders, and those bullies had started tormenting them, but excluding you, are you so sure you would not do anything to escape being included in their attack?"

Luna's eyes seemed to be staring deep into her soul, and following her gaze, she found she didn't like what she saw. At least the Lunar Princess's words were questioning, not judging. "I… I… don't know, okay, maybe, but at least the worst is over…"

Discord chuckled, "Oh, it hasn't even begun!"

While she'd been talking, he'd reset the pictures to where she'd started, and now the movie started running again. She winced as her on-screen self emotionally blackmailed them into not telling Applejack. She'd had this technique used on her, and after the first few times where she'd tried; only to have neither her parents, or her teachers, want to listen and have to take action, she'd given up, especially as it only made things worse.

The song that followed was possibly the worst two minutes of her life. Some of the visuals were surreal, but the message was clear. Having 'gone over to the dark side' she not only embraced it, but tried to find new and worse ways to terrorise and show her contempt for the trio, while Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon watched and laughed.

Right at that moment, she wanted more than anything to reach into the screen, haul out her other self and beat that monster so hard that she'd feel it herself when she woke up in the morning. Seeing herself steal the Crusaders club-house and make Sweetie Belle cry was the last straw.

"Please, at least tell me that thing on the screen gets her come-upance?" she growled.

"That _is_ your future self." Luna reminded her.

"No! That thing shares a name and a face with me, nothing else! If I ever become that creature, you can do what you like to me, because I won't be anything worth saving. She's not even just playing along, she's going out of her way to invent new ways to be nasty!"

"Maybe, having chosen your side, you are simply going all out to prove yourself to your new friends."

The three ponies in the tree-house had done a team chant. A very small part of her admitted that being part of a group like that looked to be fun, but the greater part of her just saw it as proof that her future self was being played for a fool. Like those two would stick up for her for one second when the consequences came home to roost.

She willed the Crusaders to talk to some-pony adult about it; surely their families' wouldn't be as indifferent as her own parents. Still, when they said they were going to fight back, she got interested again, though she was as confused as the ponies on screen about how Apple Bloom's scheme would work. She enjoyed the whole construction sequence, and revised her earlier crazy assessment to crazy awesome.

If she'd stuck with the Crusaders, as all decency and common sense told her too, she could have been a part of that. They had everything planned out, and her screen double went for it like a starving rabbit at a bed of lettuce. She was a bit disgusted that any version of her could so easily fall for a trap like that, but most of her was eager to see what happened.

She'd already determined that this whole sequence of events was not going to happen; that was what this whole dream was about, after all. So she was looking forward to seeing the wrong version of herself get hit by whatever the Crusaders had planned. Then Applejack explained about her past, and things changed again.

The trio immediately jumped on the explanation Luna had given, and decided that what they were doing qualified as bullying too. Babs herself considered it simple justice, but clearly her cousin and friends were far nicer ponies than she was, or just more innocent. They rescued her, and ended up in the mud in her place. Then the on-screen Babs finally seemed to get a clue. She couldn't believe it, just saying sorry made up for all the hurt she'd put the Crusaders through? That's all it took to get a clean slate and to join the Crusaders?

The final scene suggested a way towards solving her problems. She hadn't considered talking to her sister because she'd moved out and was making a successful career of her own. Babs idolised her quite a bit and had been ashamed to let her know the full extent of the bullying, and that she couldn't cope on her own.

Seeing on-screen Babs rip a chunk out of the two stuck-up pony pseudo-princesses was at least something, but nowhere near enough for her. If she'd had the courage to do that at the start, all the rotten things she'd done could have been avoided. Well, Discord had given her a second bite at the apple, and this time she was going to make it come out right.

The closing credits started, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad that's over!"

Discord chuckled. "You don't sound very grateful, after all the effort I've gone to changing time and space on your behalf."

"Oh I am!" Babs said sincerely as she turned to face him. "It wasn't fun to watch myself being that mean, but I am grateful that you've given me a chance to change it."

Luna interjected. "I begin to see why you thought you could modify this without any larger repercussions, Discord. The preferred ending is already in place, but it would be best to find some path that did not cause such grief."

"Well now I know what went wrong, I can do it right this time." Babs stated with feeling, and grabbed a hoof-full of popcorn. "Those stuck up brats are not going to get me on their side this time. If they want to get to my cousin, they'll have to go through me first!"

"Take care that in protecting your friends, you do not go too far the other way." Luna admonished her. "I admit that those others are not the best examples of pony-kind, and I will be checking to see that their inconsiderate actions are not adding to my workload, but even they are ponies."

Babs bowed her head. "I got that, 'Don't become a bully yourself in stopping others bullying'. I won't bother them if they don't come after me and mine, but if they try to hurt anyone, I will stop them. And tell Applejack, and their parents, it looks like they might be willing to do something about it."

"Well, there is one slight problem." Discord stated. "This is a dream. You will not have perfect recall of it, any more than you have of a normal dream."

"What?" Babs looked shocked. "I could forget all this and still mess up?"

"It's my nature, no matter what plans you make, there's always a chance that they won't come out the way you expect."

Babs looked over at Luna, pleadingly. "Please, I have to know this. I can't let what I just saw happen!"

"I am sorry young Babs, while I can control what happens within this realm, what you take from it is up to you. My advice is remember only the key things you want to know, as briefly as possible and focus on them. The pony I have seen here, not that one that was shown us, I believe you will know to do the right thing. Do not tarry, for I sense your dream is coming to an end…"

Babs started furiously chanting in her head, again and again. "Stay and protect the Crusaders, don't join the bullies…"

Things got all blurry and she felt herself unable to move, and then she woke up in her own room.

"… join the bullies…" she found herself whispering. Something had happened in the dream she just had, something she had to remember but couldn't. There had been blackness, and pictures and… popcorn? Some sort of movie had showed her something important. She shook off her sleepiness and hauled herself out of bed, dismissing the weird images.

Why would she want to join some bullies? No, there was more to it than that, she was sure. However, she had to get ready to go. Hopefully she wouldn't have to deal with any bullies when she went to her cousins' place. She hoped Apple Bloom would be someone she could get on with. It would be nice to have friends again.


	4. Discord takes a hand… hoof… claw… Part 2

Discord takes a hand… hoof… claw… whatever! – Part 2

Babs Seed was a little dizzy. She felt like she'd been scooped up by some tornado and carried along whether she wanted to or not. Her young cousin and friends were the source of the confusion. Why were they going to so much trouble, and why was it necessary to show her the place where they thought of ideas or ate in their clubhouse?

While it would be really wonderful to be part of a group again, even one as wacky as they were, she couldn't get rid of a deep suspicion that it was all too good to be true. The fact that they went into a huddle to discuss her was suspicious. Maybe the whole over-acting thing was just a way of seeing how desperate she was, or a way of making fun of her. The problem was that she _was_ desperate.

If Apple Bloom knew why she'd come here in the first place, she'd be able to guess that Babs would be willing to take any scrap of friendship she was offered. Despite her fear, she was weakening, but she hadn't given in yet. The fear of being led on and then turned upon was still too strong. Plus, if it happened and she went to Applejack about it, she knew who'd be believed.

Then they showed her the float they'd been building, and she was almost ready to cry. Getting a chance to play with something like that would be cool, if it wasn't a trap. She laughed nervously as the Pegasus, Scootaloo, offered her the chance.

"As a member of the Cutie mark Crusaders, you'd be able to ride on it with us! It'd be totally fun!"

Then a snotty voice spoke from the doorway. "More like funny… looking!"

The last word was spoken in chorus with another. Two fillies stood there, one in a diamond tiara and the other with glasses. Babs had never seen them before, but her hackles went up as she felt an instant dislike for the pair. This was quickly confirmed by the way they started insulting the float. Then they got on to her. Apple Bloom introduced her, and that seemed to impress them slightly. At least they didn't group her with the others.

"Suppose you're gonna join their little club? What's it called? The Cutie Mark Crusaders?" The grey coated filly asked mockingly.

Babs felt sick. So even here she couldn't escape the bullies! The way they'd said 'blank flanks' showed they were exactly the same as her tormentors in Manehatten. In an instant she started remembering all the horrible things that had happened. But there was a way out, they hadn't grouped her with the other blank flanks yet, if she agreed with them, maybe she could escape…

The sickness turned to anger, herself for being so weak, her cousin, for putting her in this situation, those two bullies for existing… She'd be becoming what she hated most, and abandoning ponies who'd wanted her to be their friend without any strings, or at least had said they did. But she couldn't go through what happened to her in Manehatten again, and the Crusaders hadn't defended themselves, or her.

The mix of hate and anger and fear and suffering focussed down into a single sharp point, and pierced her confusion. This was what her dream had been about, and she knew what she had to do, the only thing she could. She gave a deep sigh.

"More like Cutie-mark Crybabies!" She gave a derisive chuckle as her cousin gasped.

Diamond Tiara grinned as she approached with a smirk on her own face. "Oooo, heh, big city attitude! I like it!"

"Oh yeah? Well there's more where that came from." Babs snarked. Now nearly face to face with the pair she added, "Your mommas dress you funny, and I think you stepped in something crossing the yard… oh, no that's just your natural aroma. Phew!"

Watching the smile slip off the pink pony's face was so much fun. "What? But…"

"Oh, you thought I was talking about my cousin and her friends? Forget about it! You must think I'm as stupid as you are! I know your sort, we have them in Manehatten too, parading their butt-tattoos around like they were the be all and end all of creation! Cutie-mark crybabies is the perfect term for ponies like you, bragging about your cutie-marks because you've got nothing else to be proud of!"

"You can't talk to be like that!" Diamond Tiara spluttered out. "My daddy is the richest pony in Ponyville!"

"Heh!" It felt so _good_ to unload, and while she had no intention of following their actions, the insults and comments that the bullies in Manehatten had used on her, and the retorts she'd only thought of too late gave her a wonderful reserve of ammunition.

"Big hairy deal! I'm from Manehatten, remember? I know a dozen ponies who could buy your dad and everything he owns with their weekly allowance! Speaking of which, Apple Bloom, does her daddy own Sweet Apple Acres?"

The stunned farm filly finally found her voice and replied, "No, the Apple family has owned it since Ponyville was founded."

"So when did you invite these two prissy pony princesses to come visit?"

"Invite them? No, never have…"

"Never would, more like!" called out Scootaloo.

"That means these two are trespassing." She gave a distinctly sinister grin, and the two fancy ponies took a step back.

"Well, not exactly, everyone's welcome here." Apple Bloom admitted.

"Well, I guess they've worn out their welcome then." Babs suggested.

"You can't do this!" Diamond Tiara finally managed to splutter.

"Do what? I'm just asking Apple Bloom a harmless question. If I was doing something, you'd know about it." She gave another evil smile. "Yeah, you'd definitely know about it."

The two fancy ponies took several more steps back, and then Diamond Tiara managed to get some of her composure back. "Huh, it's not like there's anything in this stinky old yard that's worth our time anyway!"

"Yeah, like what-ever!" Silver Spoon chipped in.

They started to leave at just short of a run; then Diamond Tiara stepped on a shovel that had somehow fallen across their path, snapping it. She face planted in the mud, and the broken end flew up in the air, arcing over and in through the hay-loft entrance into the barn. It bounced off a beam, and knocked a sealed paint tin off a shelf, which in turn toppled a stack of boxes, one of which tumbled off the loft level and crashed down on the front wheel assembly of the float.

It crunched enthusiastically, snapping off, and the whole float tipped over and started to roll. Babs jumped out of the way as it went through the barn doorway. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who'd just helped her mistress up out of the mud, did a wild take before taking to their hooves and running for it, pursued by the rolling float like an archaeologist in the more pulpy class of action movies.

They dived across the gateway of Sweet Apple Acres a dozen steps ahead of the pumpkin, and Diamond Tiara even had to scoop up her fallen tiara to stop it from being flattened. The float rolled off into a ditch, where it crumpled up in a pile of splinters and torn orange wallpaper. Babs had stood where she'd ended up, watching with open mouthed horror at the wreckage.

She was pretty sure that if the pair had been run down, they'd have just been flattened momentarily (the high natural background magic of Equestria sometimes protected ponies in odd ways) but she was just as glad she didn't have to find out. However, she'd only intended to scare them off, and she most definitely hadn't meant to get the float damaged.

Her shoulders slumped, she'd made the right choice, she was certain of that, but then she'd ruined it. Her cousin and her friends were never going to forgive her for destroying all their hard work, even by accident. She turned around to face the music. What she got was a triumphal pean.

"Woah! That was amazing!" Apple Bloom was wide eyed.

Scootaloo was so energised she was practically hovering, "Yeah! Totally awesome!"

Sweetie Belle added. "I've never seen any-pony take on those two like that!"

"uh…" The Manehattan filly was rather nonplussed. "What about your float? I didn't mean to get it wrecked I just wanted to see those two gone as fast as possible."

"C'mon, anypony can see that was some crazy accident. Besides, we can build another float." Apple Bloom dismissed it with a wave of a hoof. "Especially if we had another member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to help us?"

She held out a hoof, and Babs felt a wave of relief. She blew her fringe away from her face and put her own hoof out to touch her cousin's. The other two ponies added theirs, and the three fillies, joined a second later by their newest member, yelled out, "Cutie mark Crusaders, HO!"

Discord had a smirk that was even bigger than usual as he paused the image. "Well?"

Princess Luna turned towards him, from where she was sitting on the couch. "Very well, I admit it, your actions improved the futures of those ponies."

"Ha!" A line of mini-Discords in cheer leader outfits appeared, dancing along the back of the couch, complete with a brass band marching theme. "And you doubted my skills! Now uphold your end of our agreement."

Luna found her own costume had changed to match the cheer-leaders', and switched it back to her default regalia with a flick of her horn and a sigh. "Very well, I shall allow you free access to the dream realm to pursue similar modifications, and provide you with proof to show my earlier selves."

The midnight blue alicorn frowned. "One thing though, the float still getting wrecked…"

"What, you suspect I gave it some assistance?" Discord put on a 'butter wouldn't melt in my mouth' expression, and just to prove it, made a stick of butter appear and held it between his teeth. It immediately developed icicles.

"Ptooie!" He spat it off into the darkness that surrounded the comfy couch. "That shovel falling into her path was merely caused by a vagrant gust of wind, that in turn was caused by a microscopic variation in the evaporation of water from a tree in the Everfree forest, due to a para-sprite flapping its wings a few seconds earlier than it did in the original timeline. What could have startled it? Who knows?"

He smirked. "It does mean we still get to see the build sequence. I did rather enjoy watching that, and listening to the background music."

"Actually, I found it rather catchy too." Luna admitted. "I am indeed interested to see what else this 'television program' can show us. Humans appear to be ingenious creatures."

"Wait until I show you their video games." Discord gave a chuckle, and started the program again.


End file.
